Friends gathered around a camp fire. Photo: Wils ‘t Hart.
‘Living the transformation’ in The Netherlands
Friends met for Netherlands Yearly Meeting from 3 to 5 June
‘Living the transformation’ was the theme for Netherlands Yearly Meeting, which took place from 3-5 June at Bennnekom.
Almost eighty Friends heard reports from those who had attended the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC)’s world plenary meeting in Peru earlier this year. One spoke of the plenary meeting’s minute on sustainability, and the hope expressed within it that every Yearly Meeting would adopt two actions related to sustainability.
Netherlands Yearly Meeting committed to promoting diversity by scattering seed balls on wasteland and collecting litter wherever they see it. They also agreed to support, or continue supporting, a number of environmental initiatives.
A ‘very special moment’ for Dutch Friends was the presentation of their new Faith & Practice, Marlies Tjallingii, clerk of Netherlands Yearly Meeting, told the Friend. It is still a working document and is likely to be accepted in 2018, she said.
Among the visitors were Annette Bennett and Laura McQuillan of Britain Yearly Meeting, Lee Taylor of the FWCC’s Europe & Middle East Section, Tony Weekes of Ireland Yearly Meeting, Belgium and Luxembourg Yearly Meeting representative Anja Nuttin, and Andrew Lane and George Thurley of the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA).
